Commercial Break
by TheGreenNGoldAvenger
Summary: Tony Stark introduces Loki to television.


"What is this box?" Loki asked Tony about the large, flat box suspended on the wall of the living room in Stark Tower. "That's the TV." Tony answered and went back to tinkering with a small device on the coffee table. "T-V? Is this another one of your 'acronyms'?" Loki inquired. "Yes it is. Very good!" Tony rubbed Loki on the head like a dog. "Well, what does it stand for, Stark?" Loki said and ground his teeth. "Television. TV." "What does it do?" Loki had successfully kept his cool. For now. "Here, Reindeer Games. You figure it out if you're such a genius." Tony retorted and slid another small rectangular device across the table towards the god.

Loki took the thing in his palm and examined it. A red button in the top corner caught his eye. He carefully pushed it. Suddenly, the TV, normally black, sprang to life. All full of color, and noise. Lots of noise. "Gah! Stark! Quiet it!" Loki tossed the remote back to Tony, who was watching with amusement. "Yes, your highness." Tony tapped another button a couple times and the volume went to a comfortable level.

"Flip through the channels, that's these buttons, and find something you like." Tony slid the remote across the table back to Loki. Tony resumed tinkering.

Loki gingerly grabbed the remote again. He pressed a button labeled 'channel'. That's probably it. The images on the screen changed, along with the sound, every time he pushed it.

On one channel, there was a giant, green field, with a bunch of evenly spaced, and numbered lines. There were a lot of people watching on the sides, this must be popular. "What ARE those people doing?" Loki asked. "Sports. Football to be specific." "Foot-ball? All they're doing with their feet is running!" Loki exclaimed. "There's a British version of football that we call soccer." Tony said. "Can you explain this 'American' football to me?" "I can try. Football is confusing." Stark shook his head slowly.

After Tony did the best he could, he bid the god farewell, and left to go do something productive. Loki watched the sport in earnest; to catch every detail Stark could not explain. He was on the edge of his seat, wide eyed, when suddenly, the screen changed. He didn't even touch anything. "Stark! Stark! What's happening?" Loki yelled. "I can't even leave you alone for five minutes. Five min-oh, those are just the commercials. Annoying, but it's fine. Commercials are advertising people's products so you can buy them." Tony added at Loki's confused face. Loki furrowed his eyebrows. "Oh. Okay. Thank you." He returned to a lady talking about toothpaste. All of the advertisements were confusing. Who would even buy half of that stuff?

The game started back up again. Loki sat on the edge of his seat in suspense. There were two 'teams' in this game. One was clad in blue and white, the other green and yellow. I like them, the god thought. Whenever the green team got the very edge of the field, a lot of people on the sides started cheering, so he did as well.

"Enjoying yourself, Reindeer Games?" Stark appeared from the kitchen, licking his fingers. "Yes. This 'football', I like it." "Most do." Tony agreed, finishing cleaning up. He sat down next to Loki. "Who's winning?" "Um…" Loki still didn't quite understand. "Just kidding." Tony smirked.

He sat down next to the god, picked up the remote, and changed the channel. "Oi! I was watching that!" "Well, I want to watch something else. I think you'll like it."

Loki crossed his arms and curled his lip at Stark. Tony caught that out of the corner of his eye, and had to smile.

Tony continued flipping through the channels, until he found what he was looking for.

" 'Ere we go." He set the remote down, put his hands behind his head, leaned back, and began to watch. Loki stuck out his chest, folded his arms, and watched with a jutted-out chin.

On the screen, were two men. One was tall, pale, and had dark, curly hair. His eyes were sharp and intelligent. The other one was shorter; more casually dressed, with short, brown hair, parted slightly on the side. His eyes were kind and understanding, with a deeper tone. The first man's features were well formed; he had a very professional demeanor.

"What is this?" Loki asked the scientist. "There's not only sports on here." He gestured to the TV. "There are things called TV shows." He sounded like he was explaining something to a toddler. And Loki sensed it. "Stark. Please talk normally." "Oh, yeah, sorry. Well, there are people in this world called actors. They act, play different characters in shows on television, in movies, or on a stage. These people are actors; this isn't who they really are. Do you understand?" Loki pondered for a moment. "Yes, I think so. Who are the characters in this show?" Loki looked back at the men. "This is Sherlock. It's the story of Sherlock Holmes, but in the 21st Century." Loki didn't look like he understood. "Sherlock Holmes is a detective mastermind that solves crimes with his partner, Dr. John Watson." "Ah. I got it now. Thank you."

They directed their attention back to the screen. "Is that one Sherlock?" Loki pointed to the tall man with the sharp eyes. "Yes. How'd you guess?" Tony inquired. "He looks smarter than the other one, not that he isn't, the taller one is the smartest." Loki explained. "How did you figure that out?" Tony was curious. "I noticed that he kept looking around, like he was trying to soak up every detail about everything. Anyone who wants to know so much, probably already knows a lot. That is my assumption." Loki sat up straighter, and folded his arms across his chest, confident smile playing on his lips.

Tony was quite impressed. "Very good." He praised. "You have fun, I'm hungry." "But you just ate!" Loki exclaimed as Tony began to stand up. "So? I'm hungry again. You want something?" "No." Loki faced the television, back in the position with his knees tucked up against his chest, arms holding them there.

Loki's full focus was on the show. He tried to catch every element that Sherlock did.

After a couple commercial breaks, Tony entered again. "So, who do you think did it?" He asks as he sits down. "Have you seen this before?" "This episode, yeah, don't worry about giving anything away." Tony smirked. "Episode?" "Yeah, there are multiple parts in a show, this one's the first, 'A Study in Pink'." **A/N: If you haven't seen this episode and don't want it given away, I would skip this part, for I am telling the ending. **

"Well." Loki pondered for a minute. "I would presume that the person responsible would be the driver of the yellow car." "The cab driver?" "Yes." "Why would you say that?" "The one thing they all had in common was that they were in a 'cab' before their untimely end. Am I correct?" Loki apprehensively asked. "You'll see." Tony leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "Oh, come on! Tell me!" "Nope. You must wait." Tony grinned. "I'm so evil." "You want to talk about evil?" Loki cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, um, no, just kidding. Keep watching." Loki glared at him for a second more, then focused back on the television.

Mere minutes later, they found out that he was right. "Ha ha! I am right!" Loki held up his arms in victory. "Very good. Ok, that's enough TV for tonight." Tony reaches for the remote to turn it off, but Loki charms it into his hand. "No, I want to watch another one." Loki pleaded. "Tomorrow. You need sleep. Wow, I sound a lot like my father. But I'm serious. No more tonight."

Still grumbling, Loki handed over the remote to Stark and went to his bedroom for the night.

Grinning, Tony turns off the TV, and heads off to bed himself.

The next morning, Tony woke up and headed into the kitchen, passing the television, which was on. _I swear I turned it off. _He thought as he walked up to it.

On the couch, swaddled in a mass of blankets, lay Loki, who was halfway through an episode of Sherlock. "Oh my goodness, were you up all night?" "No, I woke up about an hour ago. This series, I like it." "I thought you would."

Every time Tony Stark would pass the TV, he would see Loki Bookworm sitting in front the television. Even though there were so few episodes, he would watch them over and over again. _What have I done? _He often thought to himself as he watched Loki from the kitchen door.

* * *

**There, a cute little story. Tell me what you think! **


End file.
